


Strength and Joy

by EveryOtherUsernameWasTaken6604



Category: Shadowverse (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Daisy Chaining, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, One Shot, Some Humor, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveryOtherUsernameWasTaken6604/pseuds/EveryOtherUsernameWasTaken6604
Summary: After Belphomet's defeat, Arisa begins picking daisies in hopes of passing the time. She's soon joined by Yuwan, and they discuss how they've come to rely on each other throughout their journey.
Relationships: Yuwan Gilfrei/Arisa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Strength and Joy

Arisa knelt down to pick another daisy. It seemed like there were an infinite amount on this hill alone...She'd gathered up quite a few now, and her hands were almost full. Still, it was worth it! She'd need lots of flowers for a chain this big...

"Well met, Arisa." 

She glanced behind her, and her face lit up. "Oh! Hi there, Yuwan! Uh, well met to you too!" 

The robed man nodded and gestured towards her flower-filled arms. "Any particular reason for the daisies?"

"I was gonna make a daisy chain, you see! Losaria taught me how—we'd make them all the time back in the forest."

"Ah!" Yuwan nodded again. "Understandable—it's natural to want a moment of respite after an ordeal like that." 

He glanced down and adjusted the large golden brooch on his chest. It made a small dinging noise as the metal strands shifted and bumped into each other. Arisa giggled a little at the sound.

The elf girl tilted her head, a few strands of her long blonde hair falling over her face. "Is everything okay? You look like you wanna say something." She twirled around and sat down on the soft grass, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Yes, well." Yuwan cleared his throat. "I...I simply wanted to say—you know there's no guarantee we'll succeed in our initial goal. We could be searching for years and not find Nexus. And even if we can find her and defeat her, separating a keeper from their vessel can be difficult. I suppose what I'm saying is..." He sighed. "You may never see Losaria again." 

His voice was full of resignation and sorrow. Arisa had heard that tone in his voice many times, and was used to it by now, but it still made her heart ache each time. She didn't want him to be in pain.

She pursed her lips, before nodding solemnly. She felt something rising to her lips, like it was trying to push its way out. "...I know," she replied. That wasn't it, though.

"And you'll stay with us, even knowing that?" 

"Of course!" 

The words were on her lips...

"I love you!" she cried out. "...A-all of you! You're my dearest friends and my closest allies. Of course I'll stay—and I'll hold out hope that we _will_ free Losaria one day!"

Yuwan chuckled and shook his head. "Your optimism is admirable, Arisa. Would it be all right if we kept talking for a bit?" 

"Mhm! Here, come sit next to me!"

She patted a patch of grass on her left. He smiled gratefully, strode closer to her, and sat down with a faint grunt.

"Is there anything you wanna talk about?" Arisa asked. 

Yuwan looked over to her. She was staring out at the great tree where Viridia Magna slept. The oranges and purples of the setting sun streamed through its leaves. And on her face was a soft, friendly smile.

"I wanted to tell you something, yes," he replied. "It's not exactly the most natural topic of conversation, but...I enjoy seeing you smile." 

"Huh?" 

"It...inspires me. That is, I believe it inspires all of us, but perhaps for me it's something more than just inspiration," rambled Yuwan. The normally stoic man couldn't seem to stop himself from talking at length about her. "It gives me hope. When I first started this journey all that time ago, I believed it would be—as I told you when we met—a path of sorrow. Of nothing _but_ sorrow and pain. But seeing you smile, even in the worst of situations, has taught me that our path holds joy, too." 

Arisa turned to look at him. She swore she could see sunlight glinting on something on his face...Her green eyes shut, her smile widened, and she giggled faintly. "I'm really really glad to hear that! I wanna help you, 'cause you've helped me a lot too! And even if you hadn't, I'd _still_ wanna help you!" 

Yuwan recoiled, shocked. His heartbeat felt irregular, which was usually the indicator of some sort of health problem. But could it be something else? "Do you mean that? Truly?"

"Uh-huh!" Arisa's eyes opened. "And speaking of helping, can I ask you another question?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "What's with those crystals on your shoulder? Sometimes you look at them like you wanna smash them or something."

Now it was Yuwan's turn to curiously tilt his head. "Haven't I told you? They're..." He tilted it back and adjusted his hood. "A _gift_ from Nerva. She grafted them to my body. They help me to channel my power, but from time to time, they flare up and cause me considerable pain."

Arisa let out a shocked, somewhat overdramatic gasp. "Yuwan, that's horrible! Do you need me to make you a poultice to ease the pain? I can probably find some herbs around here somewhere..." She began scrounging around in the grass, her eyes darting all over. 

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," said Yuwan. "It's happened enough times that I'm used to it by now." 

"If you're sure..." Arisa glanced down. "Anyway, can I ask another question? How come your cloak's all ripped?" She gestured to his stomach, where his cloak was torn to reveal the blue lines that indicated his vesselship.

"Hm?" His eyes followed her gaze. "Oh! I suppose it...ripped during my travels and I simply never bothered to fix it." 

"I could fix it! I can sew pretty well!" 

"Again, that really isn't necessary..." 

"But what if you get cold? And besides, it can be kinda embarrassing having to see your muscles like that, you know!" 

Arisa's eyes widened. She clapped her hands over her mouth and her face turned bright red. Yuwan's cheeks seemed a bit ruddier as well. 

"I, er...wasn't aware people could still find me attractive." Yuwan drummed his fingers on his leg. "I haven't thought of such things for a long time now." 

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Umm...I-it's kind of a good thing too! 'Cause...I like knowing I've got someone strong like you by my side!" 

_Arisa, what are you doing?_ she thought. _You're gonna scare him off!_

"Someone physically strong, hm? I would think Rowen or Urias would be better for that," Yuwan said, smiling a bit. He muttered, "Especially with how exposed Urias's chest is..."

"But you're, like, really strong! Your power's incredible—you probably have the most out of any of us! I, I bet you could just punch Nerva and she'd go down!" Arisa mimicked Nerva's regal, arrogant voice— "ThOu shALt B3 pUrGeD—" and made a noise of impact. Then she burst into laughter, heartily giggling and rolling around on the grass.

Yuwan couldn't help but laugh too. "Ha, I don't know about that, but—heh..." He wasn't quite sure what to say, and so he just kept laughing. 

Arisa wiped a tear from her eye. "I really do mean it, though. You said my smile gives you hope—well, your strength gives me hope too. And I'm...glad we can, y'know, give each other hope like that. It's like I said when we fought Belphomet: without hope, we'd have no chance! If we don't hope and believe that we _can_ do this, we won't be able to!"

Yuwan nodded sagely. "That's very wise of you." 

"Thanks. Um." Arisa plucked a few petals from one of the daisies she was holding. "While we're talking about Belphomet...that's the reason I came up here, actually. If I'm troubled, being near nature helps me feel better, so I decided to make a daisy chain and watch the sunset."

"Troubled? What's the matter?" He scooted a little closer to her. 

"I...I don't wanna say. 'Cause if I'm sad, it might make you sad."

"I've dealt with plenty of sadness before—I'm sure I can take it. Besides—" Yuwan gently placed a hand on Arisa's shoulder, and she perked up. "—You don't need to smile _all_ the time, you know." 

Her eyes met his once more, and she whispered, "Okay." She took a deep breath and said, "Before...Losaria was taken, when we still lived in the forest, our only enemies were wild beasts, maybe a mean forest spirit or two. And even then, we could usually calm them down without hurting them too bad. So I never really knew people could be evil." 

Yuwan softly sighed.

"But now, we've had to fight really bad people, like Maisha and Belphomet, and even Eris back when she still served Nexus...I'm scared that maybe people aren't as good as I thought. Like, what if there's more bad people than good ones? And how do I tell the difference? I trusted Maisha—if I'd suspected her sooner, Leod and Marlone might still be—"

She let out an anguished sob and buried her face in his chest. "There, there, Arisa. It's going to be all right," he whispered, patting her on the back. "It's a valid concern. I once had the same worry. But I believe the good people outnumber the evil ones. Look at the people of Isunia, Aiolon, and Naterra. The warriors who've stood by our side as we've battled evil. _Those_ are the true faces of humanity." 

"You...really think so?" sniffled Arisa. 

"Yes. And even the bad ones may not be all bad. Maisha Laforge was...I don't know what happened in her world to make her the way she was, but I believe she had suffered greatly. It was only natural she'd be trapped in the web of the keepers. And perhaps even Belphomet Ardelyte, selfish and cruel as he was, had some sliver of good in the heart he tried so hard to reject." 

Arisa breathed in, shuddered, and pulled back. Wiping her large doe-like eyes, she said, "Thank you, Yuwan...You're right. Plus Erika and Valdain and Viridia Magna—even though they were angry and hurt by the world, they realized they were wrong and helped us. They're good guys too." 

"Precisely." 

"Yuwan? Can I ask you to do something for me?"

Yuwan made a small "Mhm" noise. 

"I want you to, if you ever feel like giving up or leaving, or even if you're just sad...look at me smiling. I wanna give you hope, like you said."

"Of course, Arisa. And I'd like to ask the same of you. Should you wish to give up, allow me to keep you safe and protect you." 

"Yeah...Okay, I will! If my smile ever turns to a frown, I'll lean on your strength."

"And if my strength ever fails me, I'll look to your smile and gain the will to carry on." 

Yuwan drew his cloak around Arisa, and she huddled close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. 

Soon, she rather loudly piped up, "Oh!! Now that that's out of the way, lemme teach you how to make daisy chains!", causing him to jump in surprise. 

After he'd regained his wits, he responded, "It's kind of you to offer, but I doubt I'd be very good at it."

"That's okay! Neither was I when I first started! Just keep at it, and you'll get it eventually!" Arisa encouraged him.

She handed him a bundle of the daisies she'd picked, and began to guide him through the steps. His gauntleted fingers were too bulky for it, though, and he was forced to remove them; Arisa gasped when she saw the glowing blue lines and scars on his hands, but he reassured her he was all right. With his fingers able to move more freely, he got a bit better at it. Whenever his fingers slipped and he broke the chain, they'd both laugh and try again, and after a while, they both had lovely strands of sweet-smelling flowers. 

"Here, take mine," said Arisa, offering it to him. 

"But you made it. It's yours. Surely you should keep it."

"Nuh-uh!" She shook her head. "See, we'll exchange them! That way, if we get separated again, we have a reminder of each other to keep us going!"

Yuwan had to admit that made a great deal of sense. 

"Hey, hey!" they heard a voice call out. 

Looking towards it, they saw Luna clutching her little mouse plushie near the bottom of the hill. Isabelle and Rowen were standing on either side of her. 

"Come on!" Luna called. 

"Bayleon said he's going to hold a feast in celebration of our victory, and Aenea will provide lights for dancing!" said Rowen. 

"There's gonna be booze!" Isabelle added, excitedly. "The others are all waiting for us—hurry up!" 

Yuwan stood up, slipped Arisa's flowers around his neck, and put his gauntlets back on. "Shall we go?" he asked, turning to her. 

She did the same, and took his hand in hers. "Mhm!" 

The two walked down the grassy hill toward their allies together, secure in the knowledge that they'd be there for each other in their darkest hour.

But for the moment, things were bright and full of joy. They found themselves recalling what Yuwan had said after Belphomet was defeated:

"Most importantly of all, however...the sun shall rise another day." 


End file.
